SpectrumTalk

CRS Report on Spectrum Auctions

Thanks to the folks at Spectrum Matters for reporting that a new Congressional Research Service report on spectrum auctions is available. Now CRS doesn't really make its reports available to the public -- for reasons that are too complex to report here, but OpenCRS, an affiliate of the Center for Technology and Democracy has found a "workaround" and many are on their website.

An interesting quote from the report

"The FCC has concluded that auctioning of spectrum licenses has contributed to the rapid deployment of new wireless technologies, increased competition in the marketplace, and encouraged participation by small businesses. However, many have questioned whether auction policy should be supplemented more aggressively with other market-driven solutions, and whether the existing auction process and administration can be improved."

It also has some observations on the pending 700 MHz auction from a relatively neutral source, as opposed to most of the others speaking on the topic.